Stories about Women & Gender from February, 2012
Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival is My Time
“In an attempt to imitate art…culture in T&T seems to have perverted itself and in trying to become something else, may have succeeded all too well; the business model of Tribe and the other new ‘Rio’ styled bands seems to be built on encouraging excess for profit”: Plain Talk suggests...
Video Highlights: Defending Human Rights
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories on video advocacy including indigenous rights and recent news from Latin America, East Asia, Western Europe and Sub Saharan Africa selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Cuba: More Sunday Detentions
Uncommon Sense blogs about yet another Sunday of repression as members of Las Damas de Blanco were again detained by authorities.
Cambodia: Network Against Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking
Established in 2005, Chab Dai (“joining hands” in Khmer) seeks to end trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cambodia through coalition building, community prevention, advocacy and research.
India: Why Can’t Women Own Land?
Rita Banerji discusses some recent court rulings in India and opines that “regardless of gender-neutral laws, even modern democracies like India that proudly flaunt their Constitution, have people in decision making capacities, as in government, law etc. who still apply the law within context of their old cultural mindsets.”
Sri Lanka: Female ex-combatants of LTTE Are At Risk
Shamila at Groundviews reports that female ex-LTTE members are at great risk as they have to report regularly to the military and their movements are closely monitored.
Cuba: Bejerano Against Corruption
“Eliot Ness and his group in Chicago…[have] a female version in Cuba”: Iván's File Cabinet blogs about the country's “Iron Lady”.
Barbados: A Woman's Worth
Free Logic is concerned about the tweets from “little girls and ignorant women extolling their love for Chris Brown, in spite of his ‘misdeeds'”, saying: “It made me feel sick inside. That there are women out there who think so little of themselves. For the record, no man will ever...
Guatemala: Speaking Out on the Genocide of Indigenous Women
The 36 year civil war (1960-1996) that ravaged Guatemala left more than 200,000 people dead and at least 100,000 women raped: most of the victims were Mayan. Finally, the sexual violence perpetrated against Mayan women is being investigated as part of the genocide proceedings taking place in Spanish tribunals.
Lebanon: Distortions to the Domestic Violence Draft Law
Lebanese blogger and Nasawiya activist Nadine posts a translation of Farfahinne's post[Ar] about how the law to protect women from family violence is facing horrible distortions.
Azerbaijan: Sari Gelin
Əli Novruzovun bloqu [AZ] writes a review on a new novel penned by Ali Akbar, author of “Artush and Zaur,” the controversial tale of a homosexual love affair between an Armenian and Azerbaijani. In his new book, “Sari Gelin, Akbar takes his readers on the complicated journey of a young girl...
Tunisia: Visit of an Egyptian Islamist Preacher Causes Uproar
Wajdi Ghonim, an Egyptian Islamist preacher has recently visited Tunisia, where he gave a series of religious lectures. His visit has been the centre of a heated debate on citizen media and angered many in Tunisia, because of his support for female genital mutilation.
Sao Tome and Principe: Series on Education, Genre, Arts & Culture in Video
Brazilian journalist Dani Moura, from Jornal Futura, published on her Youtube channel a series of short pieces on Sao Tome and Principe: she reported on education and children feeding in schools, on capoeira for social inclusion, and women entrepreneurship. She also interviewed the artists Kwame Sousa and Tomé Coelho [all...
Video Highlights: Video Advocacy and Recent Events
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories on video advocacy including indigenous rights and recent news from Latin America, East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Guinea: The Indifference Towards Women with Disabilities
Boubacar Sanso Barry wrote for the site Yanous [fr]: “Example of the indifference and the negligence in Guinea towards disability issues: It is almost impossible to find an organization that is capable or likely to concern itself with the lives of disabled people, or that would think to tackle those...
India: A Platform For Women Entrepreneurs
Shital Shah reports that Google has recently launched a portal aimed at giving women entrepreneurs of India the tools to increase their online presence.
Morocco: Student Jailed for Insulting King in Video
A 24 year-old Moroccan student, Abdelsamad Haydour, has been sentenced to three years in jail for criticizing the king of Morocco in a video posted on YouTube. The news of the sentence provoked strong reactions on social networks.
China: Cosplay Star Loses Battle With Cancer
A popular figure in China's cosplay scene has passed away after an 18-month-long fight against cancer.
West Papua: A Different Side of the Independence Struggle through Video
A documentary video letter from a woman in West Papua to an Indonesian soldier echoes the stories of many other women in the area. In this case, she asks the soldier, who was once based in her village, to please write and return to meet his daughter.
Trinidad & Tobago: Blogger Karen Walrond is All About Love
Love is so much more layered than the romantic love of Eros; what better gift for Valentine's Day than to talk about love with a Caribbean blogger whose entire mission revolves around sending love and positive energy into the blogosphere?
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Women's Congress
“There is great buzz about St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first ever Women’s Congress to take place in March”: CODE RED says that “ff the Women’s Congress can move towards the creating women as a political constituency they will have achieved tremendous success.”
